I live in Fl. and I keep my monitors in a section of my house (large fl. room.) that does not receive air conditioning, as well as outside part of the year. I have also worked with Chameleons, day geckos and Uroplatus geckos as well as other high humidity herps for many years. As result of those combinations and doing a lot of work with plants I have gotten a bit lazy about humidity over the years as I have gotten a good "feel" for where it needs to be and adjust caging and watering appropriately. I haven't owned a hygrometer in probably over 12 years I just gauge it according to experience.

That said the relative humidity in the area I keep my waters in inside varies from about 60 to 80 percent depending on the weather.

All of my waters have large pools incorporated into their enclosures and the air inside their cages can get quite humid at times sometimes into the 90% range but it does vary according to weather.

I can tell you that if you are keeping your water in a glass tank as you said, you will want to cut off as much airflow as possible. Try putting a piece of plexiglass or hardiplank or something like that on a good portion of the screen top to minimalize the air flow.

The problem with glass tanks and screen tops in the average home is that the humidity in most homes is too low for most monitors to begin with and adding basking lights on top of the tank increase air flow and makes the tank even drier. thus you want to cut off airflow to the top. Humidity wise I would suggest getting a hygrometer and try keeping it at a minimum of about 75% and higher is better.

I can tell you however that the respiratory issue is going to need treatment and once they stop eating its getting worse that is going to be a much bigger immediate factor right now. As I said before this problem can be easily dealt with if you get on top of it.

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